Prime Minister David Cameron leaves after paying his respects near to the scene of the murder of Jo Cox, 41, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, who was shot and stabbed at her constituency surgery, on June 17, 2016 in Birstall, United Kingdom. | Matt Cardy/Getty Images

David Cameron: Brexit would be ‘self-imposed humiliation’

British prime minister says murdered MP had rightly been arguing the country ‘now stands at a crossroads.’

Deciding to leave the EU would mean a “one-off and permanent diminution in [Britain’s] standing in the world,” Prime Minister David Cameron warned Sunday, and “an abject and self-imposed humiliation.”

The Brexit debate ahead of the June 23 referendum resumed Sunday, having been suspended following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox on Thursday.

Cameron wrote in the Sunday Telegraph and on his Facebook page that the murder “was one of those events that stop you cold; that shock you down to the core.”

“It is not easy, in the wake of Jo’s murder, to turn to the question of Thursday’s referendum. But we must. For, as Jo had been pointing out so effectively over these past few months, our country now stands at a crossroads. We face an existential choice on Thursday.”

On the economy, Cameron wrote there is not one “credible voice who predicts that Britain will actually be better-off, more economically secure and better able to fund our public services if we left Europe.”

Outside the EU, Cameron argued the U.K.’s global standing would also take a hit, and that while the EU would continue as an important forum for resolving global problems such as climate change, terrorism and migration, “we just wouldn’t be there.”

“In fact, the first thing we’d do if we left is establish a huge diplomatic operation to lobby EU countries before their meetings happened, and then spend weeks afterwards trying to find out what on earth had happened, and how it might affect us.”

He also emphasized that should the country realize too late the disadvantages of life outside the EU, “there wouldn’t be a way of changing our minds and having another go. This is it.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Sun on Sunday, Leave campaigner Boris Johnson said a vote to leave the EU would mean “speaking up for democracy not only in Britain but throughout Europe and it will be a fine thing that will echo through the ages.”

The former London mayor also backed David Cameron to continue as prime minister even if the U.K. votes to go.

“He will need to send a very powerful message to our European friends and partners that this is not a vote against Europe,” Johnson said. “It will be a vote against the institutions of the European Union.”

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Maria Valentina Umer

Frankly, Cameron is weak as a leader of the UK. He wants to keep his job only. He dabbles between his constituencies for Remain (the banks and the Industry) and the proletarian English bashed by England´s own neo-liberalism. Cameron is only pro Remain as much as he wants to remain in power. I don´t think this Eton boy has deep-seated convictions on the benefits of the EU for world peace. In the UK it´s all about trade and opportunistic using of the EU. The Brits want nothing else, as their `´negotiations`´ show. Selfish!

Posted on 6/19/16 | 12:00 PM CET

Maria Valentina Umer

Frankly, Boris Johnson never appeared to me to be a serious politician. He is a populist clown. I will never forget his show at the London Olympics, playing like a latter-day James Bond, carrying the Queen on a helicopter. He is a show master, no more. The England I used to know and appreciated is besett by media clowns forging as politicians. Anything for the tabloids headlines!

Posted on 6/19/16 | 12:13 PM CET

Alan

Nice to see trolls still active…

Posted on 6/19/16 | 12:32 PM CET

Maria Valentina Umer

“Self-imposed humiliation“ sums up the current state of British politics.

Posted on 6/19/16 | 1:47 PM CET

newBroom

@Maria Valentina Umer
You are British? Shame on you. Every single post anti-Britain. Disgusting. Leave our great country while you can still move freely and give us a break. Apologies to whichever nation she chooses.

Posted on 6/19/16 | 1:53 PM CET

Tom Cullem

Indeed – should BREXIT win, it will be a self-imposed humiliation ON David Cameron BY David Cameron. He offered a loaded gun to the electorate in order to head off a few more votes for UKIP, instead of exhibiting some courage of conviction and being honest about his complete opposition to leaving the EU under ANY circumstances. Now he’s panicked that the electorate might actually fire the weapon. He has no one to blame but himself – and as the polls show very much a dead heat, even if REMAIN wins, it will be a pyrrhic victory: when the EU rolls out that legislative agenda with its mandatory migrant quotas and heavy per-head fines for ones no taken, the expanded budget, the completion of accession to the ECHR – there will be political hell to pay and UKIP will find itself, as the SNP did after the Scottish referendum, the beneficiary of millions more angry voters, which in turn may hugely impact the 2020 elections for Labour and the Tories.

This time, even a “win” for Cameron will translate as a loss – the Law of Unintended Consequences we have always with us. Cameron is a mediocre creature who has been extremely fortunate. He is fundamentally unfit to govern, and however the referendum goes on Thursday, he should be drummed out of office.

Posted on 6/19/16 | 3:50 PM CET

Tom Cullem

And by the way, Cameron is lying about there not being a single credible expert who believes that the economic outcome of BREXIT will be catastrophe. And second, many of the “experts” predicting catastrophe are the same ones who predicted catastrophe if Britain didn’t go on to the Euro. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

Posted on 6/19/16 | 3:53 PM CET

Peter

I’m not a briton. But if the Britain exits the EU I don’t see any humiliation. It’s like a divorce. If one party is not satisfied, a divorce is a normal way.
To business, trading etc: look at the US. They are not a member of the EU, this doesnt stop business, trading, banking etc. Stop EU propaganda. talk about facts, numbers, not about feelings.